Research paper of Euthanasia

Peter Niewrzol

June 3, 2010

Life or Death: the Practice
of Euthanasia

Euthanasia is a very
complex and difficult issue to comprehend, partially because of how it’s
described by religion, the government, and just your ethical motives behind
euthanasia. Although people are open minded to using euthanasia when they’re
terminally ill or suffer of such problems were death would be better than life,
the great majority of people, including politicians, priests, and doctors have many
moral objections to the topic. Euthanasia is as a matter of fact, humanly
wrong, and goes against civilizations most sacred laws. Such an act was
blatantly expressed in the Hippocratic Oath, “I will neither give a deadly drug
to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this
effect.”(Hippocrates line 7)

Starting from the twentieth century,
euthanasia became a popular choice for terminally ill patients. As more and
more people fled from hospice care, the doctors became worried over the moral
issues surrounding killing a patient who may have been under the influence when
making such a decision. Robert Baird shares his thoughts of euthanasia and the
doctor in his book Euthanasia: the Moral
Issues, “…That the homicide was clearly intentional is
confirmed by the resident's act of unrepentant publication.”(Baird) As the art of mercy killing spiraled out of
control the government had to take action, firstly, they decided to make a law
that if doctors were to perform euthanasia, they would be tried as murderers.
Furthermore the controversy surrounding Euthanasia has made it illegal in all
fifty states and most of the world, the Netherlands however, do not oblige. One
of the few countries to perform mercy killing has attracted people from all
over the world who wish to end their suffering. On an unrelated note, the
hospice care in the Netherlands is extremely unacceptable for the fact most
doctors don’t specialize in longevity due to the fact most people resort to
euthanasia.

When
Washington debated over the practice of Euthanasia, many groups began debating
which eventually got the topic sent to the Supreme Court for deliberation. A
contributing factor such as Washington V. Glucksberg that got all the way up to
the Supreme Court that prohibited physicians practicing euthanasia on humans;
one keynote address given by Glucksberg was that the laws treatment of assisted
suicide in our country has always been rejected (Glucksberg 1997). Ever since
his and many other cases the Supreme Court banned the practice of voluntary and
involuntary euthanasia. Despite the verdict, Oregon and Washington allow
physician assisted suicide. This involves many consent forms in showing that
the person is fully willing to commit suicide that is documented by two doctors
and witnesses. Once the case is reviewed and approved, the doctor can prescribe
a barbiturate that will cause death in a painless sedative. Only one-hundred
twenty seven people opted for taking the medicine to date. Although prohibiting
a rather pain free treatment to terminally ill patients, allowing doctors to
take away life saving device such as a feeding tube or respirator to cause
death is legal in every state.

The
media has always disapproved of euthanasia, such as the infamous Jack Kevorkian
and how the media covered his trial. This man was somebody was giving people
drugs that he knew would kill them. Some people in the media gave him sympathy
for killing some people who were senile and couldn’t make decisions of their
own. He undoubtedly got convicted and received a ten year prison sentence.
Another national headline was Terri Schiavo, a woman who due to unknown reasons
went into a vegetative state. Because her husband could make decisions on her
well being, he felt removing her feeding tube to cause inadvertent death. the
media portrayed him as a monster for doing this when she was in a world of pain
as it is; the director of the Terri Schiavo foundation Mr. Bobby Schlinder reported
, “My sister was never dying or on life support. We took her everywhere in her
wheelchair. The media distorted her condition” (Schlinder). Due to how
sensational death is the media usually portrays it as extreme.

In order to supplement Euthanasia to patients, the
hospital has to spend hundreds of dollars for the medication, paperwork, and
footage as evidence in event something happens. However to treat a person
properly it could take“$40,000
to treat a patient properly so that they don't want the "choice" of
assisted suicide...” (Smith). Due to the fact that most hospitals across the
globe don’t have enough money or proper technique, using medicine euthanasia
would be a cost effective means of controlling an epidemic. Countries in Africa
use such methods in controlling the population and for genocide.

There are many differences between Euthanasia and
assisted suicide; assisted suicide is when a doctor prescribes medication to
the patient who knows that it will end their life. The doctor does not
administer the dose or anything else; only Oregon and Washington allow this in
the United States. Euthanasia is categorized in six categories: voluntary,
nonvoluntary, and involuntary, each separated into two additional forms, active
or passive. All active forms of euthanasia are illegal which the direct cause
of the patient’s death is.

While most people in the world agree
that euthanasia is against human decency some people will argue that it is
necessary for terminally ill patients. While the jury remains decided to keep
euthanasia illegal many efforts are underway that might life the law under some
circumstances such as for terminally ill patients.